Agri innovation expo moves to the Netherlands

The Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) will be launching its European edition in the Netherlands from 9-10 May 2017 at the Jaarbeurs Expo Centre in Utrecht.

The GFIA is held in cooperation with Proagrica, a global division of Reed Business Information (RBI), specialising in the agriculture industry. Proagrica has four pillars: media, software, integration & connectivity and data & analytics. Amongst other titles, All About Feed (and its sister publications Pig Progress, Dairy Global and World Poultry) are part of the media pillar.

Globally significant dialogue

When GFIA was launched in Abu Dhabi in 2014, it was born out of the passion of 40 influential organisations including the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, that wanted a platform to start a globally significant dialogue on how we can feed nine billion people.

Sustainable agriculture innovations

Since 2014, GFIA has evolved into the world’s largest dedicated showcase of sustainable agriculture innovations. It not only comprises a forum for key stakeholders to discuss policy, strategy and solutions for a food secure future, but also a large exhibition where 300+ suppliers meet thousands of farmers and procurement managers from government, food producers, agri businesses, NGOs and cooperatives.

The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world (after the US), exporting €65 billion of agricultural produce annually. But with land at a premium, the Dutch agriculture sector has had to focus on sustainability to remain competitive. “No organisation alone has the ability to solve food production challenges,” said Nicola Davison, project director of GFIA.

She added, “The key is to bring public decision-makers, private sector champions and civil society leaders together, through cross-sector collaboration, we can bring about a food-secure future, and the prominent role the Netherlands has taken on this issue makes Utrecht a perfect stage.”